RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> McHenry County >> Prairie Grove >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Prairie Grove, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Prairie Grove and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Prairie Grove:
    • 42.276835, -88.269375
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Prairie Grove
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected McHenry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McHenry County
    • Since Prairie Grove is near Lake County and also Cook County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Prairie Grove

Communities Also Named Prairie Grove ...

We found eight communities that are also named Prairie Grove.

Within Illinois, the name Prairie Grove is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Drew County
      • This Prairie Grove is located in Drew County and lies 640 miles [1,030 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Prairie Grove that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Drew County community of Prairie Grove.
      • Washington County
      • This Prairie Grove is located in Washington County and lies 541 miles [870.7 km] to the southwest of the Prairie Grove that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Prairie Grove.
    • Iowa
      • Clarke County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Iowa community of Prairie Grove [Clarke County].
      • Des Moines County
      • This Prairie Grove is located in Des Moines County and lies 181 miles [291.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Prairie Grove that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Des Moines County community of Prairie Grove.
    • Kansas
      • Republic County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Prairie Grove [Republic County].
    • Manitoba
      • This Prairie Grove lies 664 miles [1,068.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Prairie Grove that is located in McHenry County.
    • Texas
      • Angelina County
      • This Prairie Grove is located in Angelina County and lies 845 miles [1,359.9 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Prairie Grove that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Angelina County community of Prairie Grove.
      • Limestone County
      • This Prairie Grove is located in Limestone County and lies 864 miles [1,390.5 km] to the southwest of the Prairie Grove that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Limestone County community of Prairie Grove.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Prairie Grove ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Bull Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bull Valley is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull Valley
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,078 people
  • Crystal Lake
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Crystal Vista
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Crystal Vista is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Vista
  • Emerald Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Emerald Park is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald Park
  • Ferndale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Ferndale is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferndale
  • Holiday Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Holiday Hills is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 574 people
  • Island Lake
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Island Lake is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,951 people
  • Riverstream
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Riverstream is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverstream
  • Silver Lake
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Silver Lake is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Lake
  • Terra Cotta
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Terra Cotta is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terra Cotta
  • Trout Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Trout Valley is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trout Valley
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 508 people
  • Williams Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Williams Park is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Park

How Far From Prairie Grove to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a village such as Prairie Grove to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Prairie Grove and extending to:

  • Woodstock, which is the Seat of McHenry County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Prairie Grove to Woodstock, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 186 miles [299.3 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 632 miles [1,017.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,186 miles [9,955.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,927 miles [11,147.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,813 miles [7,745.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Prairie Grove) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Prairie Grove could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Prairie Grove to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Prairie Grove. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2768, Longitude: -88.2694       In this case, the coordinates for Prairie Grove have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.858 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.869 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.769 degrees.